On 18 November, the Department for Cooperation with NGOs from Macedonia organized a consultation meeting with civil society on program objectives and priorities of the grant scheme “Further development and financial sustainability of civil society” financed by IPA TAIB 2011. The consultation served as a chance for representatives from the Department to present main elements of the IPA TAIB 2011, including priority areas, budget and its distribution. The presentation was followed by the discussion on the necessary activities needed under this program and CSOs’ perception of the direction of IPA 2011 programming. Many CSOs representatives expressed their perceptions, together with…
Author: anja
The Slovak Balkan Public Policy Fund is at the final stage of implementation. The 21 grantees have finished with their project implementation, has promoted their papers nationally and some of them had the opportunity to present it in front of EU institutions in Brussels while others were participants of a panel discussion on an international conference held in Slovakia and organized by Pontis Foundation, called “Development and Democracy”. BCSDN as local coordinator of the Fund, on the 13th of November, presented the 21 public policy papers that have been published in a joint Slovak Balkan Public Policy Fund (SBPPF) publication…
Ms Hafner Ademi presented the recommendations from the Regional Monitoring Matrix report and the latest Background Analysis of the EC Progress Reports 2014-2015 and called on EEAS to work with EU MS and other European Institutions in ensuring civil society development is part of the negotiation process and transparent, inclusive and independent management of both state and EU funds towards civil society development with special attention to funds for watchdog activities.
On the 5th and 6th November 2014 TACSO organized a regional conference entitled “CSOs and Good Practices in the Use of Communication Channels” in Skopje. The aim of the conference was to strengthen capacities of CSOs from the Western Balkan countries and Turkey in the area of communication, supporting their efforts in achieving their missions on various levels and themes. Communication/Media experts and plenary speakers from established CSOs in the region discussed good practices and lessons learnt through sharing different experiences with advocacy and awareness raising campaigns. In the first part, the focus was put on social media, offline techniques…
A kick-off workshop on Economic value of the civil society in the Balkans took place in Belgrade on 3rd and 4th November. Civic Initiatives hosted BCSDN partners form Albania (Partners Albania, Center for Change and Conflict Management) Bosnia and Herzegovina (Center for civil society promotion), Croatia (CENZURA Plus), Montenegro (Center for NGO development), Slovenia (CNVOS), Macedonia (Macedonian Center for International Cooperation) and BCSDN Executive Office. The aim of workshop was to identify and discuss most important parameters of economic value of civil society in WBT countries, so that in 2015 and 2016 research and advocacy on the economic value of…
On the 3rd November, 2014 our dear colleague and former Chair of our Board Miljenko Dereta passed away at the age of 64. He was strongly devoted to building up civil society in Serbia and in the region. His achievement is an example for civil society and will be carried on in the joint fight for a better life. We are proud to have worked with Miljenko Dereta. He was not only an exceptional professional with outstanding qualities but also willing to show courage and fearlessly follow his vision. As colleagues in the BCSDN we are incredibly sad about this…
On 15th October, the occasion of their 18th Anniversary, Civic Initiatives organized a debate entitled “Civil Society: New mobilization” at the Sava Center in Belgrade. The discussion about the future of civil society was an opportunity to present and hear different opinions on the many challenges faced by civil society in Serbia, the region and at the global level. At the debate many questions were raised about the new position of civil society, notably those concerning the new activism, re-mobilization and citizen support. Special attention was paid to issues of sustainability of civil society organizations, changes in communication, representation and…
A study visit on service provision by CSOs was held in Slovenia, from 22 till 24 October. Hosted by CNVOS, representatives of BCSDN member organizations and public institutions from Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia were introduced to the long-standing practice of CSO service provision in Slovenia. By visiting the Ministry of labour, family, social affairs and equal opportunities and the Municipality of Ljubljana, participants were presented with programmes for social protection, their legal framework and cooperation between government and CSOs on this issue. The Ministry has started financing social protection programmes implemented by CSOs since year 1996. Field visits to…
Center for Promotion of Civil Society (CPCD) has announced a Request for Proposals for providing training and technical assistance services, as part of the “Sustainable Civil Society Programme” in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A consultant/trainer will be engaged for 8 days to provide training and consultancy services for developing CPCD’s sustainability strategy 2015-2019, including a communication strategy. The working language is Serbian/Bosnian/Croatian and the deadline for applications is 3rd November, 2014. For more information contact prijava@cpcd.ba. The original RFP is presented below: OTVORENI POZIV ZA DOSTAVLJANJE PRIJEDLOGA (RFP) PRUŽANJE USLUGA TRENINGA I TEHNIČKE ASISTENCE _____________________________________________________________________ Šifra Poziva: CPCD ToR 17/ 2014…
BCSDN for the 6th time has analyzed how the European Commission has treated the issue of civil society development and assessed the progress made in the Enlargement countries within the Enlargement Strategy 2014-2015 and the country Progress Reports recently being published. In brief, the analysis shows the Commission has unified itsapproach towards the issue of civil society and for the first time has structured it as separate section within the political criteria of the progress report for each country. It has furthermore mainstreamed civil society in Acquis chapters to some extent. Most importantly, the EC has used clear, strong and…